Period-doubling and chaotic oscillations in the ferroin-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction in a CSTR

The ferroin-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction, the oxidation of malonic acid by acidic bromate, is the most commonly investigated chemical system for understanding spatial pattern formation. Various oscillatory behaviors were found from such as mixed-mode and simple period-doubling oscillations and chaos on both Pt electrode and Br-ISE at high flow rates to mixed-mode oscillations on Br-ISE only at low flow rates. The complex dynamic behaviors were qualitatively reproduced with a two-cycle coupling model proposed initially by Györgyi and Field. This investigation offered a proper medium for studying pattern formation under complex temporal dynamics. In addition, it also shows that complex oscillations and chaos in the BZ reaction can be extended to other bromate-driven nonlinear reaction systems with different metal catalysts.